The idea is to combine the smoothness of the OS20 steering with the gearing/tire/rollout selection of a regular 20″ race bike.

However, the concept isn’t entirely new.

Similar concepts have been tried in both motocross and downhill MTB.

Closer to the OS20/22″ side of things, United rider Kyle Forte experimented with running a 22″ front end on his 20″ (before making the switch to a full 22″ ride that ended up being his signature model, the KF22)

This is when I decided to try a 22” front wheel & longer fork on the front of my UTD 20”. My thinking was that it would raise the front end & slack the head angle out & make the bike less twitchy & more relaxed. I tried it & looked a bit odd, but I could feel the difference. The main downside was that it made my bike super easy to loop out. From the success of the experiment, I really wanted to run a 22” on the rear & dial a frame in to suit me.

Will the big wheel in front/small wheel in back combo work in racing better than did for Forte at the trails?

The USA BMX Grand Nationals, touted as “The Greatest Race on Earth” was, as all you racer-types know, held this past weekend.

Not only does it feature some of the most exciting racing you’re going to see anywhere, it also serves as a showcase for companies to debut some of their new products.

This year’s Grands was no different.

One company’s product in particular, generated quick a bit of buzz over the past few days. That product was Yess BMX’s 2018 concept prototype bike called Project2024.

The bike uses a frame that can accommodate two different wheel setups: OS20 and 24′ cruiser. When the OS20 wheels are used, it features a bottom bracket height of 11.5″; when the 24″ cruiser wheels are used, it sports a 11.75″ bottom bracket height.

How does this BMX wizardry work you ask?

The frame uses purpose-designed dropouts, that can be flipped upside down…changing the radius distance from axle to ground. This provides a similar bottom bracket height to be achieved despite using two different wheel size setups.

The benefit?

This innovative setup could allow you to take one bike (with an extra wheel set) vs. two bikes when traveling to big races.

The downside, of course, is having to swap out the dropouts and wheels between motos….and having the time to do so. Probably a non-starter at smaller state or national races but perhaps do-able at the big UCI race extravaganzas.

Gotta respect those Yess folks for pushing the envelope on BMX innovation.

Word on the street is that the OS20 frames might be “made to order” for the time being since they still so new.

I would suggest confirming with SSquared to be sure (before you order) but…hot damn!…if true, this is a great opportunity to get a custom OS20 bike built with the race-tested quality SSquared is known for. Definitely don’t sleep on this if you are in the market.

Some pretty cool new offerings from Yess and SSquared.

It seems that the OS20 momentum that’s happening in the race world continues to grow. It’s good to see.